I'm Thinking... 09/09/09 Barleywine

[korndog]

man, my brewing is so ghetto compared to some of yours!

Oh, I've made a batch or two of ghetto beer on this rig; believe me.

Doughed-in and mashing at 149F. Wish me luck!

 

[FSR402]

I hit 83% ef. on this brew but I also boiled for 6 hours.

 

[korndog]

OK BM, I'm done brewing this beast. I threw some Chinook in the mix and used Maris Otter, but otherwise was on recipe. 105 minute boil and 25 Brix (1.10) into the fermenter. All my numbers were good throughout the process but the hydro is reading lower than the refractometer for some reason. Not going to sweat it. Smells and tastes awesome. Safe and Sound in the Freezer:

 

[BierMuncher]

Brew Tracking as of 9/23

Once you've completed your brew session, PM me so I can track the progress of all the participants.

Here's what I have so far. If I've missed your session, let me know.

I've highlighted individuals who have been absent from HBT for three weeks or more.


Air Pirate7-24
Alamo_Beer - (Brewed 8/16)
Amiaji - (Brewed 9/8)
BakerStreetBeers 8-16
Beerrific - (Brewed 9/6)
beerthirty - (Brewed 9/7)
BierMuncher - (Brewed 8/27)
Bike N Brew
Brewpastor
Brewsmith
BuffaloSabresBrewer
CBBaron - (Brewed 9/19)
chriso
conpewter – (Brewed 8/24)
Couevas – (Brewed 8/4)
DeathBrewer
deathweed – (Brewed 8/26)
Displaced MassHole
Doog_Si_Reeb - (Brewed 9/7)
eddie - (Brewed 8/31)
EdWort
Evan!
EvilTOJ - (Brewed 9/8)
FSR402 - (Brewed 9-7-08)
Glibbidy
hagbardceline
Hagen – (Brewed 8/23)
HarvInSTL
jds
jfrizzell
jmulligan - (Brewed 9/13)
justbrewit 8-18
Kai
Kilted Brewer - (Brewed 7/13)
KingBrianI - (Brewed 9/6)
korndog - (Brewed 9/23)
Liquidicem - (Brewed 9/1)
MikeFlynn74
mmb
MNBugeater - (Brewed 9/6)
mrkristofo
Mustangj - (Brewed 9/21)
nealf - (Brewed 9/14)
niquejim
olllllo - (Brewed 9/7)
Ooompa Loompa
Pirate Ale - (Brewed 9/6)
Ridemywideglide - (Brewed 8/31)
Saccharomyces - (Brewed 9/13)
SporkD2 - (Brewed 9/4)
Stratotankard - (Brewed 9/13)
TerapinChef
TexLaw (Brewed 9/21)
the_bird
uglygoat
Warrior
wedge421
wildwest450 - (Brewed 9/12)
xiang – (Brewed 8/26)

 

[TexLaw]

Anyone have thoughts on how to minimize the dark fruit and plum/raisin characteristics of this beer? I want to emphasize nuttiness and hoppiness, but minimize the fruit components, as that's the one thing I typically don't like about Barleywines, Old Ales, etc.

My first thought is, cut the Special B entirely, use less Cara 120, and fill in with more Cara 40 and Cara 60. Perhaps up the Munich content? I have boatloads of Pale Chocolate and Coffee Malt and Aromatic Malt all sitting around.

That's just what I would do, except more on the 60L end. I don't know that 40 would get you the nuttiness you want. Upping the Munich content is not a bad idea, but I would rather substitute some of the U.S. pale with U.K.


TL

 

[Chriso]

Good idea, TexLaw - I've got an extra 3# of Maris Otter layin' around. Sub a little of that for 2-Row, Up the Munich slightly, and just rely on the Cara 60. I'm doing a couple oz of Pale Chocolate too - I know the original recipe uses it, but it's absent in the smaller (3.5gal) recipe due to color impact. Without the C-120 and the Special B, it's easier to work back in, and stay within color guidelines.

 

[TexLaw]

Thinking about it a little more, you may want to put a little 80 L crystal in there, but just a little. The pale chocolate probably covers the nuttiness, though.


TL

 

[niquejim]

If you have some Victory, that should add some nuttiness without a significant color change

 

[Chriso]

I suppose I could grab some victory. I have Aromatic, Cara 40, Cara 60, Cara 120, Special B, Pale Choc, Regular Choc, Choc Rye, Peated, Rauch, Special Roast, and more, all in stock. Victory, though I used all of my reserves. Same with my Honey Malt.

I wish I had some fancy automagic method of moving my BeerSmith between work and home. I've got the recipe all plugged in already, with my hop subs and everything. Durn it.

 

[mmb]

I suppose I could grab some victory. I have Aromatic, Cara 40, Cara 60, Cara 120, Special B, Pale Choc, Regular Choc, Choc Rye, Peated, Rauch, Special Roast, and more, all in stock. Victory, though I used all of my reserves. Same with my Honey Malt.

I wish I had some fancy automagic method of moving my BeerSmith between work and home. I've got the recipe all plugged in already, with my hop subs and everything. Durn it.

Install it to a memory key. Seems to work ok under XP.

 

[Chriso]

Eh, I don't carry one unless I know I'm going to need it. In theory, if both computers were Mac's, I'd use a .Mac membership, set my iDisk on both computers to replicate as my My Documents folder inside of Parallels Desktop, and then install BeerSmith to the My Documents folder. BUT - My home tower's a Windows PC, and my work's a Mac Pro. (And, I haven't paid for a .Mac membership.)

I've thought about using command-line FTP to synchronize the recipes.bsm file once every 24 hours, and setting up a scheduled task on both the PC and on the Parallels Desktop "PC". But that's a lot of work.

Really, I just need to get DynDNS and remote desktop both working, so that I can just remote directly into my home computer, and open BeerSmith remotely.

Or, I've been thinking about buying a eee or a Dell Mini 9, just for BeerSmithing. Wish the screen rez was bigger, though.

Ah, the quandaries of someone who's too big of a nerd. You'd think my five computers were enough already.

 

[bluesman88]

Is it too late to get in on this. I'd be very interested.

Thanks,

Bluesman :rockin:

 

[korndog]

Is it too late to get in on this. I'd be very interested.

Thanks,

Bluesman :rockin:

You have to be a paying member.

 

[FSR402]

You have to be a paying member.

Other then that, sure you can get in.
I would buy you a membership put you only have one post and I only do that for people that have been around awhile and have really put forth an effort to help.

 

[FSR402]

But hey, don't let that stop you. Brew it now and in the next 3-6 months you like it here pony up and join. If not, you have a great BW to drink.

 

[EvilTOJ]

Yea no doubt. Go ahead and brew it, but to be part of the swap you have be a paying member. It *is* a year from now, so no rush if you don't wanna be rushed to pay up.

 

[jmulligan]

After 11 days in the fermenter, I grabbed a hydro sample last night. LOTS of suspended hops, so again, reading may be a little off. It's sitting right about 1.030 (~76% attenuation). Took a taste, and all of the suspended hop pellets made for a thick, bitter brew. Poured the sample gently through my filter/funnel and then through a loose-tea bag to get rid of all the gunk. Tasted pretty good, got some hints of chocolate/roastiness and there was no real alcohol bite to speak of. This is going to be some delicious and dangerous stuff.

I am definitely going to need to do something about getting all the "stuff" to settle out. Reason #45778 to get a kegerator going, so I can crash cool this.

 

[FSR402]

I am definitely going to need to do something about getting all the "stuff" to settle out. Reason #45778 to get a kegerator going, so I can crash cool this.

You have two more rackings and a year for it to settle. Don't worry, it will.

 

[BierMuncher]

After 11 days in the fermenter, I grabbed a hydro sample last night. LOTS of suspended hops...

That looks tasty.

At 11 days, mine was still chugging and foaming. I hit 1030 too. That was 2 weeks ago. I'm coming up on a month and then I'll rack to a keg and stash in a corner to forget about it.

I'll definitely draw a sample and depending on what I taste, might toss in a small pinch of medium roast oak chips. Not too much...just a hint.

 

[jmulligan]

I'm coming up on a month and then I'll rack to a keg and stash in a corner to forget about it.

That's my plan too - one month in primary, then I'll rack to secondary and leave it for a few months, then maybe rack again for another few months.

I'll definitely draw a sample and depending on what I taste, might toss in a small pinch of medium roast oak chips. Not too much...just a hint.

Can you (or anyone) recommend a good oaked barleywine to try? I have been debating the oak, but I'm not sure I have a good idea of what that will contribute to the flavor.

 

[TexLaw]

Oak gives different flavors and aromas, depending on how the oak is handled (e.g., charred, used, soaked in stuff). The fresher it is, the more it tends to lend a tannic tang to beer. The more it is used, it imparts less of that tang and more of whatever it held before (although that can be very mellow). Also, the char matters. The more it is charred, the less of that tang comes across, and the more you can find those nutty, vanilla, tobacco sort of notes that people talk about while swirling glasses under their noses. There are also some differences between American Oak, French Oak, Martian Oak, etc., but that is getting over my head.

Just personally, I do not much care for that tannic tang, but the char character can be pretty nice, sometimes.


TL

 

[mmb]

Can you (or anyone) recommend a good oaked barleywine to try? I have been debating the oak, but I'm not sure I have a good idea of what that will contribute to the flavor.

For an idea on what oaking can do to a beer get an Arrogant Bastard and an Oaked Arrogant Bastard.

I much prefer the oaked version. I'm planning on Oak Cubes in secondary for my second batch of this.

 

[uglygoat]

ok i gots the ingredients rustled up. i'm gonna have to sub pacific gem for the kettle hops, no magnums to be found, and what i picked off my bine this year doesn't equal half an ounce.

pale chocolate? never heard of it, got plain old chocolate instead. and i'm using mo as the base.

is safeale05 a suitable substitute for the wyeast?

all scheduled to go down whilst the browns go down to the bengals this sunday.

 

[korndog]

pale chocolate? never heard of it, got plain old chocolate instead. and i'm using mo as the base.
is safeale05 a suitable substitute for the wyeast?
all scheduled to go down whilst the browns go down to the bengals this sunday.

I used MO, 400 Chocolate (less), and US-05. Color is good and it's fermenting violently (4 hour lag).

 

[korndog]

Just personally, I do not much care for that tannic tang, but the char character can be pretty nice, sometimes.

TL

Yep, I had some H.O.G. Fred From The Wood which is aged in new oak barrels. You can definitely sense the greenness and twang of the green wood. I prefer old.

 

[uglygoat]

i'm not looking forward to mashing this beast, the cooler is gonna be maxed out. the largest grain bill i had this past summer was 8 lbs...:fro:

 

[CBBaron]

pale chocolate? never heard of it, got plain old chocolate instead. and i'm using mo as the base.

is safeale05 a suitable substitute for the wyeast?

all scheduled to go down whilst the browns go down to the bengals this sunday.

I've seen pale chocolate at most of the online HBSes recently including thegrape.net (Akron). Its a 200l malt instead of the 300-500l normally found so you should use less of your regular malt than you would pale chocolate.

US-05 is a good substitute for Wyeast 1056 or WLP001. I rehydrated 2 packs to ensure a sufficient yeast population.

Well atleast some NFL team from Ohio has finally got to get a win this weekend. Ofcourse that also means that someone will be 0-4 and the division will be fought between the Ravens and Steelers. I think you can guess who I'm rooting for.

Craig

 

[wildwest450]

I've got enough Pale chocolate left to do a batch, if anyone needs it let me know I can send it out to you.

 

[korndog]

US-05 is a good substitute for Wyeast 1056 or WLP001. I rehydrated 2 packs to ensure a sufficient yeast population.

Craig

Mr. Malty comes out to 2.3 packs for this beer. I rehydrated 3 packs on the stirplate. I dump break from conical, so I overpitch a little. Two packs should be fine though. I love this yeast.

 

[korndog]

I just took a reading on the refractometer. 16 Brix comes out to 1.044. Still chugging away but temperature peaked last night. trying to maintain 68F until finished. Looking good.